It takes a team of professionals to primp, prep and polish the seemingly flawless models who grace the glossy covers of magazines.
Rose-Marie Swift is one of those pros. Wielding a makeup brush like a magic wand she has readied the faces of countless A-list celebrities for the camera.
Originally from North Vancouver, and a graduate of Argyle secondary, Swift now lives in New York City where she does makeup for fashion models and movie stars who come through town.
"When they come to New York, and let's say they're going to be in W Magazine or they're going to be in Vogue or something, I'll get asked to do their makeup," Swift says.
Her impressive list of clients includes Zoe Saldana, Tilda Swinton, Demi Moore, Sophia Coppola, Celine Dion, Paloma Picasso, Gretchen Mol, Isabella Rossellini, Milla Jovovich and Cindy Sherman. Meanwhile, her handiwork has been featured in publications such as Harper's Bazaar, Allure, Marie Claire, Glamour, Interview, Elle and others.
These days, Swift's main clients are fashion models Gisele Bundchen and Miranda Kerr - both of whom have walked the runway for Victoria's Secret.
"I'm really known for my glowing, beautiful skin and my light touch," Swift says, explaining that her ability to match the skin on the face to the skin on the body is appreciated by models who don lingerie.
"If you look at a lot of editorial stuff in magazines you'll see that the face is completely just one huge sheet of makeup," she explains. "I have to make sure the skin (on the body) and the skin on the face look exactly the same, but yet you touch up the pimples and the bags and the little doo-dahs here and there."
Swift began her makeup career in Vancouver, discovering a talent for the craft at an early age.
"I just pretended I was a makeup artist," she says, admitting she never formally studied esthetics in school. She landed her very first cover shot with Vancouver magazine and, after exhausting the opportunities available on the West Coast, she moved to Toronto, then Europe where she lived and worked in Paris, London and Hamburg.
Decades in the cosmetics industry have taken their toll on Swift, now 59.
Several years ago she started to develop a rash on her hands and was feeling sick constantly. So she sought medical help.
"The lab in Toronto said to me 'Do you work in the cosmetics industry?' and I go 'Yeah, how did you know?' and they go 'Because you've got a lot of chemicals in you from cosmetics."
The lab results were a wakeup call for Swift, who began researching the products she was using on a daily basis.
"The more I studied, the more I realized 'Oh my god, these cosmetics are full of crap.'" From there she began experimenting with natural plant oils to add sheen to her models' skin rather than slathering on petroleumbased products or mineral oils.
"Then I just started fooling around with colours and mixing different oils and butters," she recalls.
About five years ago, she introduced RMS Beauty, a line of organic cosmetics that is now sold in 12 countries. While Swift doesn't use her line exclusively on clients, she says the brand does have a strong celebrity following.
In recent years she has also become an advocate for women protecting themselves from chemicals found in beauty products and launched the website beautytruth.com where she offers her research findings and personal beauty tips.
"I just want women to realize there are healthier alternatives to the chemicals."
Locally, RMS Beauty products can be found at Kiss & Makeup in West Vancouver. They are also sold online at rmsbeauty.com.
